"I am a princess. All girls are. Even if they live in tiny old attics. Even if they dress in rags, even if they aren't pretty, or smart, or young. They're still princesses. All of us. Didn't your father ever tell you that? Didn't he?"~ A Little Princess

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Monday, 30 December 2013

This post was originally featured on Dancestuffbut I wanted to share it on here too. So many people ask me 'what's a good dance school' and although I'd love to always recommend my own school, sometimes what I have to offer them just wouldn't suit, or we're simply not in the right area. So here is my guide to choosing the right dance school:

There are many great dance schools on the Central Coast, each with
their own unique way of running. At Dancestuff we are constantly asked
for recommendations for dance schools. We support all the local studios
and recognise that each school has something special to offer the world
of dance. We've created this post to help parents and students when they
are searching for a new school.
With the new year just around the corner, and many new and existing
students searching for a studio, we've put together this list to help.
Before selecting your new studio, there are a couple of things you need to ask yourself;

What kind of dance experience are you looking for?
Are you after a fun and exciting form of exercise? A new hobby? Do
you want to make a career out of dance? Do you love the social aspect of
your dance classes?
It helps to know what you are hoping to achieve with your time at the
studio, as each studio is targeted slightly differently. Some schools
have separate programmes for students hoping to pursue a dance career.
Some cater specifically for recreational students. There are schools
with a mix of both, that have both streams integrated together, schools
that are geared towards young children and schools that are heavily
involved with competitions and community events. It is important to know
what kind of school you are looking for rather than just asking ‘what
is a good dance school?’

What styles do you want to learn?
Do you absolutely love jazz but can’t stand the thought of doing
ballet? Some schools require students to take on ballet to help
strengthen their other styles. Are you hoping to perform in musicals, be
a back-up dancer or join a ballet company? These career paths all have
different skills required and it is important to find a school that can
help you in your chosen area.
What about just learning for fun? Just going to dance with your
friends? Many students take up dance as a simple hobby, without the idea
of making a lasting career out of it, and that is absolutely fine.
Having fun is so important in your dance classes, but you also want to
be progressing, don’t you? Imagine you started learning guitar and on
the first week you could play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. What
if, several years later you were still learning and could still only
play that one little tune? Would it still be fun? Dance is the same.
It’s great to learn for fun, but part of the fun is mastering a new
skill or getting better at something you couldn’t do before. After all,
that’s what we pay our dance teachers for… to teach dance. Make sure the
school you’re looking for will still teach the ‘just for fun’ kids what
they should be learning to ensure the ‘fun’ experience remains fun.

How far are you willing to travel?
With so many schools on the Central Coast, it can be overwhelming to
pick the right one for your family. Another important question could be
how far are you willing to travel? If you don’t want to go far, have a
look at the schools in your suburb and surrounding suburbs, ask your
children’s friends which schools they attend. But if you’re willing to
go a little further, there are many schools around and you may find one
that is perfect for your needs in the next postcode.After you’ve worked out the kind of dance experience you’re
looking for, there are some very important questions to put to the
principals of the schools you approach.

Things to ask the schools you approach:

What are your class sizes? This one is more
important to some people than others. Ask if the studio caps the class
sizes, or provides an additional teacher or assistant to a class that
exceeds a certain capacity. Remember these teachers are responsible for
multiple children at a time, it is important to see that they are able
to give the appropriate level of supervision to the students in their
classes.

Are your teachers qualified? Again the answer to
this question can be very varied. There are all sorts of qualifications
around, some are specific teaching qualifications, some are performance
qualifications. If this is an important issue for you, please check with
the principal of your school.

Do your staff have Working with Children Checks? This
is such an important practice today. All adults working with and around
children are required by law to have these checks done. Check with the
principal when you’re researching your schools.

What is your costuming like? Many parents are
disappointed with the costuming on their children in end of year
concerts and eisteddfods. If appropriate costuming is an important
issue for you, ask to see some costuming from previous years for similar
age groups. Some schools have different policies in place when
selecting their costuming.

Is music and choreography age appropriate? The way
our children are portrayed on stage can be a very sensitive issue. Is it
important to you that your child is not only dancing to age appropriate
music, but is also doing movement that is appropriate? Check with other
parents in the school, ask about their previous concerts or call the
local theatre to see if this is right for you.

What are your fees like? Every school sets their
fees differently and it is important to check these before signing up.
Many schools also have additional fees such as costume purchasing or
hire and competition entry fees. Ask about these before you sign up so
you have a good indication of how much you’ll be expected to pay.

What is your uniform? Check what the uniform
standard will be like in your new school. Dancestuff caters for all
schools on the Central Coast and beyond and can provide dancewear for
all styles of dance. Check to see what your children will be needing at
their new studio.

Keep in mind this is by no means a full list of the things you
should be asking, it is designed as a guide to help students and parents
find the right studio for them. Remember learning to dance is a
beautiful journey that creates fabulous memories. It is important to
find the right dance family for you and your kids

Wednesday, 18 December 2013

Once again, I find myself at the crazy end of the year. The time when I forget to eat dinner, don't have time for breathing and become completely absent from all social events... Concert time!

This year I've been busy in more ways than I could have imagined. Not
only do I have the stress and headache of organising my own studios concert,
but it's also been insanely busy in my shop as I now have to cater for
all the other local schools which are having their concerts too!

To add to this hectic time, I also made the rather silly decision to
hold my wedding just after concert time... expressions of sympathy will
be accepted now.

Lately I've been waking up exhausted. My to-do list is a bottomless pit of errands and every day it grows.

Soon
though, I will have a little tiny glimpse of peace. Our concert is on
Saturday, my store closes on Monday and I have a few days of calm to
finish planning my wedding!

I wish you all a fabulous 'silly season' and keep my fingers crossed for you that it isn't as silly as mine!

Sunday, 27 October 2013

Today I had a trip down to Sydney with Nikya who has introduced me to a fabulous French designer that she has done makeup work for.

Ellie at L’amoureuse is making me the most beautiful and elegant hair piece for my wedding and I can't wait for it to be finished! We looked through her gorgeous designs and fabrics and started piecing together the perfect hair piece.

Saturday, 26 October 2013

Today is a sad day for my family. In the early hours of yesterday morning we lost one of our cousins. I say cousin, as that is what he was to me, but to others he was a brother, a son, a nephew, an uncle, a grandchild or a friend.

As my Uncle John has said: "Nobody
can ever take away the fact that you lived your life the way you wanted
to live it, You were strong in your decisions of how you would live
you're life and ultimately how you would make the choice to leave" David, you will be missed by all who knew you.To my beautiful Aunty Kath and cousins Dennis and Jessica: I know the emptiness you are feeling right now. I know that hole you have inside that feels like it will never go away. I have cried the tears you are crying now and I have sat in the silent despair and heartache I know you are going through. One day, we will sit with happy memories of David, that don't bring waves of sadness. Now is not that time, but I promise, you will smile again. Please
know I am here to support you from afar. Although I can't be there with
you, I am thinking of you always and sending my love.

Tuesday, 22 October 2013

Tonight as I go to bed, I am making myself a new promise. To break up with my snooze button.

My alarm is set every morning for 6:30am. Every evening I go to bed, set my alarm and run through my ever growing 'to do' list for the following day.

That is however as far as I've been getting for the past month. Pretty much every single morning, I've woken up to that depressing sound of the alarm that draws us all out of bed. But I've not followed through, I've not allowed it to draw me out if bed and into the day ahead. I press snooze, but not just once, I press it multiple times. I'm a snooze junkie. So much so that all the things I plan for the morning don't happen. I haven't been making it to early morning gym sessions. I've gotten behind in my paperwork and my poor little Aggie has been missing out on her lovely [occasional] morning walks.

I've managed to tell myself every morning that it's possible to get ready for work in half an hour, and although some people [my sister, my fiancé] will argue that it's perfectly possible, for me it's not. I feel like I'm scraping by. My mornings were always a productive time that allowed me to pull myself together and face the long and exhausting day ahead. Sure I have enough time to get dressed, brush my teeth, do my hair and makeup and pack some lunch, but I don't feel ready when I leave the house. It's not good to be drinking breakfast in the car instead of eating a proper one at the dining table.

So from tomorrow morning, I am going cold turky. I will not press snooze. I will not tell myself that 10 more minutes sleep will make me feel better [we all know it won't. That first 10 more minutes is like the first step down a steep time stealing path]. I will get my lazy ass out of bed and take my Aggie for a walk, do some accounting and eat a proper breakfast!

Monday, 14 October 2013

I love dressing up, I do it most days. Every day deserves a beautiful outfit and I like to throw something a little dressy even into my casual wardrobe choices.

I have a beautiful walk in wardrobe where all my favourite clothes and shoes sit waiting on display for me to choose from. Selection of my outfit each day usually starts with a quick look at the weather
app on my phone (I am particularly sensitive to cold and can't stand not being prepared for it). Then I look at all my gorgeous shoes... This is normally the first thing I pick and make my outfit around them. My wardrobe consists of various girly and pretty items from a mix of places and some staples that can be put with my dressy pieces. Some cheap finds that I pair with a more expensive top or bottom, some lovely new things and some old favourites that I continue to wear (even though I've had some of them more than 10 years).

'Miss Ali wears' will give me the chance to show you the clothes I love.

Here's today's outfit, it's not a warm day and I'm at my
shop for most of it, my work for the day tends to dictate the
outfit choice.

Miss Ali wears:
* Black lace top: Tokito City (I love this brand, their shirts are always made from the most beautiful feeling fabric)* White cardi with black lace detail: Review (probably one of my favourite brands for pretty, feminine clothes - I usually have to wait for them to go on sale before I buy)
* Grey 3/4 pants: Banana Republic (I bought these on holiday in Paris last year, I absolutely love them, so super comfy and they go with everything, plus they remind me of a fabulous day spent shopping on the Champs Elysses with Mel)
* Coral heals: Miss Shop Myer (got these on sale last week for $39 - love bargains)!

Saturday, 12 October 2013

Today is my 27th birthday. I'm not too sure how I feel about that yet... I don't think I am far along as I thought I would be by this age (not that I know what I expected), but in other waysp I feel like I have done a lot more than I imagined. I don't think I ever thought I would own and run two businesses, enrol in uni, or be walking down the aisle in a few short months to be married.

Usually my birthday is spent like any other day... working and teaching (with the exception of last year that I got to spend in Europe), but this year as my birthday fell on a Saturday, I decided to give myself the day off, well some of the day off.I woke up at 6 to do some work, send some emails and check through some accounting, during which I enjoyed a fabulous pot of Irish breakfast tea and got ready for rehearsals. My kids have a performance tomorrow and we had a quick practice at 8:30 this morning. My car is in at the mechanics being fixed so Nikya drove me to the studio and Dad picked me up.I came home to some lovely red roses and a freshly cleaned house from by gorgeous fiance. Ate some fruit and toast as I spent some time reading the blogs I love and scrolling through facebook. Then I had a nap (most people wont understand how exciting that is for me... I never get day time naps)! and read a book. Matt and I went for a drive, we stopped by the shop (because I am a workaholic and can't help myself) to check up on a few things and then went shopping for a new scratching post for Miss Marple.This evening I went to dinner with some lovely friends and my parents, we ate at the Entrance Lake House. It was so nice to see everyone together :)So my birthday is now drawing to a close, I had a nice relaxing day which differed from my normal busy days and it seems 27 is off to a nice start :)

Wednesday, 9 October 2013

I'm finding it extremely difficult to get anything done today. I have accounting that needs to be done, emails and voicemails to return, mail to go through and concert timetabling to sort out.... so far I have done nothing on my 'to do' list. I have taken a trip to the bank, cleaned and reorganised my desk in my office, sorted some mail into neat little piles (but not actually done anything with it), played fetch with the dog and made lunch. None of these things actually needed to be done today, but they presented themselves as better options than the things I need to do. Not a very productive day at all!

I have a few short hours left before I need to go and teach for the evening, but I just can't bring myself to get stuck in to anything. I know I will regret this very soon (I am already feeling guilty about it) and I will spend tomorrow wishing I had just done something today.

I am usually a very organised person (some might say obsessive), today however I have been hit with the procrastination stick. Anyone out there have any tips to get me off my bum?

Friday, 4 October 2013

Tonight is one of those rare and elusive nights of doing nothing. Matt's out for the night, I'm on holidays from dancing and have no work planned for the night. So I'm snuggled up on the couch with Aggie, I have a bottle of moscato, a bowl of twisties and I'm set for an evening with the oh so fabulous Audrey...

Monday, 22 July 2013

Today is a fresh start for treating my body a little better and getting it ready for my wedding in January.

I've been avoiding the gym for various reasons (got sick and spent a lot of time in bed, had laser surgery and was told not to go, bought a second business and had no spare time and twisted my ankle last weekend when I was taking Aggie for a walk). It seems I am the queen of excuses lately. I also haven't been eating the best.

Well today I finally made it back! My lovely friend, and Maid of Honour, Emma is joining my gym and we met there this morning. It's much easier to get out of bed and go when you know someone is actually going to be waiting for you at the other end! I've also done a great clean out of our fridge and pantry and packed it with much better food.

On top of finally getting my bum into gear and getting myself ready to walk down the aisle in a white dress I also have a new-found enthusiasm for planning my wedding. My fourth bridesmaid arrived home from Canada on Friday! What an awesome surprise it was when we all got together thinking we would be skyping her and she showed up in the flesh! We can finally all get together and start all the planning, that I really should have started months ago!

So I will leave you all to think Happy Monday thoughts as I get ready to head into the shop for what will hopefully be a busy and successful day

Sunday, 21 July 2013

Today is my first day off since I took over ownership of the dance shop and although I really should be spending it catching up on paperwork and invoicing, I just can't bring myself to do it.

Instead I bought myself flowers, because pretty things make me happy and am just sitting down for a cuppa and some lunch. Then I might take Aggie for a walk and catch up with a friend... Then if I feel like it, I might get round to my paperwork!

Thursday, 20 June 2013

I firmly believe that the shoes make the outfit. It is widely known that I have a slight obsession with beautiful shoes and I own more pairs than people think is necessary. I do however, wear all of them and often get rid of old ones that I either no longer wear or are becoming too worn out.

Recently I got rid of several pairs of shoes, I gave some to my sister, threw some out and donated others.... Then I jumped online and bought a few more pairs.

Today they arrived. The best kind of delivery is one that makes you smile and this one certainly did!

Monday, 17 June 2013

I remember being desperate for glasses as a child. I have vivid memories
of going with Mum to the optometrist, sitting in the waiting room for
her to have her eye tests done and picking out the frames that suited me
best. I always begged her to buy them for me "I can just have them with plain glass, they will make me look smart" I would plead with her... a battle that I never ever won. It wasn't until I was in my early 20's that I finally needed to get them, and by then, I was very much over the idea of just having them for fun.

I don't mind having to wear them, and in every day life it's no big deal (even though it's rather annoying that I've needed prescription sunglasses for the past 5 years), but my dependence on glasses has become increasingly frustrating in my career. Working in front of a computer, or watching TV with glasses on has never been an issue, but during dance classes they really have been a hassle. I need them to see the kids, then I don't need them to demonstrate or choreograph.

Well... as of last Friday I no longer need them at all! I made the decision to have laser eye surgery, and although I'm still in the healing stage, I now have 20/20 vision! I am sitting at my desk and looking at the computer screen without glasses. I am off to teach my first class this afternoon without glasses, and very importantly I will be able to walk down the aisle without glasses!

It was not a pleasant experience to have done. I'm a very squeamish person and being awake while your eyes are being reshaped with a laser is uncomfortable to say the least. I now have four weeks of having three sets of different eye drops put in four times a day (also an experience I could do without), but I can see! How exciting it is to look out the window and see the individual leaves on the trees, and to be able to watch TV while laying down.

I'm so happy I bit the bullet and made the decision to get my eyes fixed.... and I finally get to wear non-prescription sunglasses! What an especially Happy Monday this is!

Friday, 31 May 2013

Today was a pretty happy day, not only is it Friday, and the start of the weekend, but some fairly great things occurred.

6:30 - wake up and climb out of bed. Feed cat and dog and convince dog to go outside for her morning toilet time. She seems to be getting a little reluctant with this in the frosty mornings.

Get ready for work.

7:30 - into car and off to work

8:00 - normal jobs: removing students, typing, answering calls etc.

10:00 - morning tea, banana and cup of Irish breakfast tea

10:15 - back to work, more of the normal stuff and the bank

1:00 - lunch: toasted ham, cheese and tomato sandwich and an apple

1:30 - back to work again. Do the bank for a second time, we're doing rollover or something like that (not exactly sure) all I know is that I had to do a second bank and close down the register until Monday at lunch time. Finish up some normal jobs and clean up the desk at the end of the day

2:45 - Yay made it to the weekend. Home time!

3:15 - pull in to driveway and get phone call from fiancé to meet him at his parents house to go through final business plans.

Don't get out of car, but pull out of driveway and head to his parents house. Have to drive through terribly busy school time traffic

3:45 - arrive and discover fiancé's older brother has arrived home from living in Europe. He wasn't due back until September so it's a nice surprise

Go over final business plans with fiancé and make decisions. Head to bank to get a bank cheque. Feeling rather excited

4:30 - head to dance shop to start in the next phase of my life. Hand over bank cheque as deposit for purchase of the business, which I will take ownership of on July 1st

5:00 - fiancé heads back to parents house and I head to Erina Fair for a much needed manicure. Get some pretty coral coloured shellac nails.

6:00 - back home to feed pets and get changed quickly before heading back to Fiancé's parents house for dinner

8:30 - head home. Have to drive fiancé home too as he had a bit to drink with his brother

9:00 - shower time and time to tidy kitchen and lounge room. Plan to vacuum floors but feeling lazy... will do that tomorrow

10:00 - climb into warm and comfy bed with iPad. Type post and plan to do a little study before going to sleep

Thursday, 30 May 2013

6:00 - wake up much more refreshed (it's amazing what proper sleep can do for you), but continue to lay in bed as it is so lovely and warm

The sound of the alarm stirs both pets, and they know what it means, have morning cuddles with cat and dog

6:30 - reluctantly tell myself it's time to get out of bed and start the day.

Feed cat and dog, potter around the house for a while with a cup of tea and get organised for the day ahead. Pull meat out of freezer for dinner tonight

7:30 - say goodbye to fiancé (who has ignored his own alarm and is still in the fabulously warm bed), leave for work, need petrol on the way.

8:00 - start work, finish touches on the assembly and start to remove some students from the system.

Realise phone is missing, call it... Fiancé answers and informs that have left phone at home. How inconvenient!

Fill out paper work for new permanent position

10:00 - morning tea. On Thursdays at work we have a group morning tea with all the other SAS staff. It's usually used as a meeting for each department to catch up and for our boss to relay information. Some happy days we use it to celebrate someone's birthday and cake and other yummy food is brought in... Today was one of those days! We had sticky date cake and delicious cheese and crackers to celebrate Sean's 30th birthday

12:00 - the students in the hospitality department put on a Thai feast for the staff. All the other office staff attend for lunch. I don't like Thai food so offer to stay back and look after the office. Very busy office time, multiple lines ringing at once on the phone, student counter and parent counter both very busy. Thankful when other office staff come back.

1:15 - finally make it out to have my own lunch. Lasagne from the school canteen as we have an empty pantry at home. Plus a banana and an apple. Have no phone to keep me occupied. Do a crossword in one of the magazines in the lunchroom

1:45 - back to work for the last stretch of the day

2:45 - home time. Yay only one more day this week to do!

3:15 - arrive home to find a parcel had been delivered. Get very excited thinking it must be the shoes I ordered online. Alas it is not. Just another delivery for FinnMoto

Return missed voicemails for the day, scroll through Facebook and answer some emails.

4:15 - off to dancing. Pick up some paperwork for fiancé and jump in car.

4:45 - private lesson with my student of the year scholarship student

5:15 - grade 7 ballet. Teaching them their classical dance

Get message from this evenings musical theatre class teacher. Is sick and can't come in (this must be my week for sick teachers)! Message parents to cancel class, will schedule makeup lesson in holidays. I've never had this amount of cancelled classes or sick teachers in one week before!

6:15 - advanced jazz and contemporary. Missing quite a few to illness, but still manage to add a new section on

7:45 - home time. Surprisingly early tonight. Usually I am at the studio on Thursdays for another hour!

Prancer, our adoptive studio dog friend comes for a cuddle and a pat, then into car to head home

8:15 - arrive home and start cooking dinner. Spaghetti bolognese

Feed cat and dog. Then eat dinner with fiancé on couch in front of heater as its so cold

9:00 - more emails and time for an ice cream

9:30 - shower time then getting ready for bed.

10:00 - climb into bed with iPad. Set alarm and type post. Looking forward to some decent sleep again tonight!

Wednesday, 29 May 2013

So today wasn't as hectic as the last two days, it was a little less full (thankfully)

7:00 - wake up. As I don't go to work on Wednesdays, I would usually sleep in a little longer, but I had a breakfast date to get up for :)

Get ready and feed pets. Chat with fiancé, who has to get up early for an online meeting with overseas suppliers

8:00 - breakfast with Emma at Aromas. Ate some yummy French toast with bacon and a fabulous pot of tea. Time for a catch up and a brief chat, some weeks we don't see each other at all, due to our conflicting schedules, so our breakfast catch ups are always great, if a little rushed.

9:00 - back into the car and off to the studio for my preschool dance classes.

9:30 - Little Ballerinas class

10:00 - Mini Jazzers class

10:30 - quick tidy up of the studio and sorting out of some paperwork before off to the dance shop

11:00 - business meeting with the dance shop. These always last a really long time as we go off on tangents and have many discussions completely unrelated to dance. I always make sure I allow plenty of time when I head in there, because we get carried away and a half hour meeting turns into a four hour meeting!

2:30 - wrapping up our meeting and back into the car

2:45 - belated lunch with fiancé. We ate at Taste, was delicious food!

3:30 - fiancé heads to the warehouse to work as I head home to work.

Answer some emails and return voicemail calls, checking payments that have come through and doing bookkeeping work.

4:30 - on the road again and back to the studio

5:00 - junior jazz: usually I supervise this class as I have two student teachers for junior jazz. One has called in with glandular fever, the other was at work, so for tonight at least, I was on my own.

Get message from evening cover teacher, calling in sick (not my week at all for sick teachers), have to cancel last two classes for the evening (senior/advanced hip hop and tap).

6:00 - Nikya comes in to take senior jazz class and I head home. I love that I get an early night on Wednesdays

6:30 - arrive home and finish answering emails from this afternoon. Get distracted with Facebook

7:30 - feed cat and dog, sit and chat with fiancé, have a very light dinner (baked beans) as still full from lunch. Fiancé eats ice cream instead of dinner

8:30 - Tidy office and lounge room. Can't believe how messy the house has become over the last two days and make a mental note to catch up on usual daily tasks (which I do normally each day, to ensure the housework gets done each week)

9:30 - jump in shower and get ready for bed.

9:45 - feel happy that I've managed to get to bed before 10, write post and set alarm ready for a new day

Tuesday, 28 May 2013

6:30am - up and out of bed - I made a last minute decision last night to give myself an extra half hour of sleep before facing the world again!

Normal attempts at getting ready, a perfect cup of tea and some cuddles with Aggie. Feeding the cat and dog, jotting down some notes for the assignment that was due tonight for uni (oh the horrid end of trimester time) and cleaning the bathroom, (which is actually a Monday job, but I was way too tired yesterday to be bothered to do it)

7:30 - wake fiancé up and tell him to get out of bed. Continue getting ready.

7:45 - wake fiancé up again and tell him it's definitely time to get out of bed

8:00 - say goodbye to fiancé (still in bed) and leave for work (on Tuesdays I do the late shift)

8:30 - time to start work for the day: finalising the assembly for Thursday, which has to be done today as I don't go to work on Wednesdays. Got called into the boss's office to be told that staffing phoned and approved my application to become permanent 2 days a week, Yay (currently I'm employed as a casual in a temporary position 2 days a week... And just get called in on the other days). Message fiancé to tell news :)

1:00 - supposed to head off to lunch, but cornered by a teacher that needs help with something, stay back to assist while belly is rumbling with hunger!

1:15 - finally make it out to the lunch room for my pumpkin soup

1:45 - back to work again, being on the late shift means I get a bit more done in the afternoon than usual

3:30 - home time!

4:00 - rush inside, grab the stuff needed for the studio, get changed.

4:15 - jump back in car to head over to studio and start teaching for the night. Feel very thankful that I get to do something I love!

4:45 - quick hello and goodbye with fiancé as we cross paths at the studio. Student teacher called in sick so have no assistant for first class. Primary jazz: cutest little girls ever, but a bit of a handful

5:30 - grade 7 ballet: getting them ready for their exam work

6:30 - grade 5 ballet: these girls are also preparing for an exam. Get message from lovely friend, Emma asking if keen for breakfast catch up! Definitely keen!

7:30 - intermediate jazz and contemporary: my class that has improved in leaps and bounds so far this year, I pushed them all up from junior to intermediate this year and they've all taken to the challenge so well!

8:30 - classes over for the evening, lock up and head home

9:00 - arrive home to find fabulous fiancé has cooked dinner: roast chicken stuffed with pumpkin and garlic, wrapped in bacon, yum (gotta love those premade things that can be thrown in the oven), eat in front of computer as attempting to finish off assignment for ICT in education unit at uni. Finish off activities and put finishing touches on a slowmation project due by midnight

10:45 - submit assignment with mixed feelings. Knowing its not done as well as it should be, but just feeling so happy that the trimester is so close to an end. Only an exam on Monday to do!

Jump in shower and get ready for bed.

11:00 - climb into bed, chat with Matty and discuss our businesses, play a bit of fetch with little Aggie (unintentional, but she had her toy on the bed and I made the mistake of throwing it off... Then it becomes a game of fetch, because clearly I was throwing it off just so she could bring it back)

Type up eventual day in blogger, set alarm and be very happy that my bed is warm :)

This week I thought I'd share my time with you. I've once again be rather neglectful of my little blog, due to a combination of being confined to bed for a few weeks with bronchitis (not fun at all) and then a whole heap of work and uni to catch up on. So I shall be making these posts over the week to give you a little glimpse into my life.

Monday

6:00am - this is when my day was supposed to begin (I was however, extremely tired and my bed was so very warm and cosy that I naughtily pressed my snooze button)

6:30am - reluctantly concede defeat and drag myself out of bed. Sometimes it's hard when you share a bed with someone else to make yourself get up in the mornings when they're still lovely and snug under the covers!

As usual, with their cute little faces the dog and cat manage to grab the first attention of the day and get their food before anything else can happen. Time for a cuppa, grabbing the essentials for my day at work, picking my outfit, doing my makeup and all the other boring getting ready stuff.

7:30am - leaving for work. It takes me half an hour to get there, and thankfully I get to drive against the traffic!

8:00 - start work. Currently I'm filling in for someone else at work and I'm working on organising one of the academic assemblies that will be held on Thursday, my morning was spent printing certificates and sorting out the student awards lists.

9:45 - morning tea, which was going to be a particularly boring musli bar and cup of tea... But my boss gave me a cupcake, you can't say no to cupcakes, so the boring little musli bar laid forgotten in my super cute poker dot lunch box. Send picture message of yummi cupcake to fiancé to make him jealous of my great morning tea... Get picture message back of eggs on toast. I think I won that battle!

10:00 - back to work: more assembly organising, doing the bank, answering many phone calls, dealing with parents and students: a typical day at the moment.

Receive text message from beautiful friend Mel asking if free for lunch, sadly not since at work and have to decline :(

1:00 - lunch: no special surprises for lunch, just my left over pasta

1:30 - back to work to finish up as much of the assembly stuff as I can, had some details changed on me at the last minute, which means redoing part of the job I had already finished (not fun)

2:45 - home time! I love that I get to finish work reasonably early in the day!

3:15 - arrive home and rush to my office where I try to get in half an hour of writing an essay that is due tonight - this is the reason I shouldn't have pressed snooze this morning! Have company of puppy dog on lap and pussy cat on desk... Not helpful when you're in a rush

3:45 - time to gather all the things I will need at the studios for tonight and get changed into proper teaching attire

4:00 - off to the studio and job number 2 for the day

4:30 -senior technique class followed by receipting some payments from parents for term fees

8:15 - home time, back into the car to head home and finish my essay. Feeling a bit flustered about getting it done in time so make the bad decision to buy takeaway instead of cooking... Stop at Hungry Jacks drive through

8:45 - home and time to shovel down my dinner in my office

Time for writing my essay on Jane Eyre, really shouldn't have left it so late, but was caught up all weekend doing another uni assignment. As much as I love Jane Eyre, I am hating this essay!

11:00 - submit terribly written essay that doesn't actually answer the question along with other English essay on Jekyll and Hyde written last week... That was my final English assessment for this trimester. Yay - fingers crossed that I can scrape a pass!

11:10 - complain to wonderful fiancé about being tired and jump in shower. Get ready for bed, moisturise, take hair out, have a chat with fiancé about business stuff

11:45 - fiancé heads out to his office to do some work and I climb thankfully back into my amazingly warm and comfy water bed with my iPad (where I am joined by puppy dog and pussy cat). Play a few games, scroll through Facebook and write this post

12:30 - set alarm for 6am (wonder if I'll actually get up at 6am) publish post then hope to go to sleep

About Me

Dance teacher, tea drinker, book lover, shoe enthusiast. Unashamedly obsessed with fictional worlds.
Principal of Elite Dance Studios and Owner/Manager of Dancestuff. Currently studying a Bachelor of Arts and Business through the University of New England.